In a confidential message to senators on Thursday, the Secret Service said its Office of Professional Responsibility had not received complaints about officer behavior in El Salvador but would investigate.
“Fifteen years in business, it’s the one club in this country that does not prostitute the girls,” said Ertel, the owner of Lips, at his news conference. “Look, every guy that comes in there propositions the girls, and the answer is always going to be ‘no.’ Was there Secret Service in there? I have no idea.”
On Capitol Hill, early signs surfaced of eroding support for the Secret Service director. Grassley said Sullivan’s job could be secure if the scandal were an isolated incident. “But if it goes much deeper, you know, nothing happens or nothing’s changed in Washington if heads don’t roll,” Grassley said on CBS “This Morning.”
A member of the House Homeland Security Committee, Rep. Chip Cravaack, R-Minn., warned against a “knee-jerk reaction” and urged a full investigation. But he compared Sullivan as the agency’s director to the captain of a foundering ship: “I’m a Navy guy,” he said. “The captain of the ship can be in his cabin sleeping and if the ship runs aground the captain of the ship is responsible. I’m not saying anybody’s head should roll here, but I expect the captain of the ship to do the right thing.”
The White House said Friday that the president remained supportive of Sullivan and confident in the capabilities of the Secret Service.
The fallout from the scandal remained raw. When an AP reporter on Friday visited the home in Maryland of Gregory Stokes, who lost his job in the agency’s first round of disciplinary action, someone in the home called police, who asked the AP to leave his property.
___
Associated Press writers Larry Margasak and Julie Pace in Washington, Sarah Breitenbach in Annapolis, Md., and Marcos Aleman in San Salvador, El Salvador, contributed to this report.
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